Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 01:08:04 -0400
Reply-To: Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jason Willenbrock <pooncerelli@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Refrigerator Fan Upgrade
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
hey jeremy,
nice post on fan upgrade! i just bought the same fan from gowesty and am
about to do this work on monday. you would not happen to have any pics
would you? i contimplated silicone to hold fan in place as well. which way
does the fan face? gowesty could have some sort of broad instructions,
don't you think? the fan looks cool and i am sure it will be A LOT quitere
then the original. my stock fan is so loud you have to unplug it, and it
does not blow air in any direction. i am excited about having a new fan, as
i have spent most of the summer with fan disconnected, an still keeping
fridge cold with help of internal fan i installed and mylar gel freezer
packs. fridge stays under 42 in most heat, with new fan i hope to get it
under 40.
thanks
jason
87 syncro westy
>From: Jeremy Speer <jspeer@POBOX.COM>
>Reply-To: Jeremy Speer <jspeer@POBOX.COM>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Refrigerator Fan Upgrade
>Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2004 14:51:35 -0500
>
>Folks,
>
>You can always tell when a vanagon is running well, the owner begins
>"upgrading" everything. Well, thanks to my local Vanagon guru, my van
>has been running better than ever, so i've been spending money on the
>luxuries. A while back i bought a Fiamma awning (decadent!), the other
>day i bought the fridge fan upgrade from Go Westy dot com.
>
>Yeah, i could have bought a muffin fan from the local computer junk
>shop, but i was also buying the rubber floor mats, so i figured what's
>another $20 on the order.
>
>The fan comes with no mounting hardware nor even mounting suggestions.
>You're really on your own with this one, but since GoWesty cautions
>"custom mounting required" it's not unexpected.
>
>Step One: remove refrigerator (always fun)
>
>Step Two: remove old fan and bracket.
>
>Step Three: Cut old fan wires about mid way up
>
>Step Four: realize there are three wires coming from the new fan, but
>only two on existing fan
>
>Step Five: devise a way to test a) which wires are used, b) which way
>fan blows
>
>Step Six: solder new fan's red to existing system's yellow, news fan's
>black to existing blue.
>
>Step Seven: come up with some kind of mounting scheme. If i had a
>wire-fed mig welder i probably would have just spot welded the thing in
>place. Failing that i reattached the old bracket sideways after
>drilling new holes, i then attached two "L" brackets to the
>refrigerator's back to support the fan from the bottom. Problem is
>nothing lined up with the corner mounting holes on the new fan... so i
>bought some aluminum silicone and gooped the fan in place. Seriously...
>i gooped the L brackets, the edge where the fan contacts the back of
>the fridge and the old, now sideways, bracket. The fan was gooped in
>four places. It seemed to hold really well. I let it cure for four
>hours. After four hours, for what it's worth, it seemed pretty solid.
>
>Step Eight: install refrigerator (even more fun than step One)
>
>Step Nine: open the propane (test for leaks!) light the fridge and wait.
>
>After about twenty minutes.... whirrrrrrrrrr. Sure enough the new fan
>kicked on and purred gently. After about five minutes it stopped. This
>cycle went on four of five times and the cooling fins started to coat
>up with frost. Assuming the goop holds the fan in place I think this
>was a success.
>
>Why did i even do this? Well, for one the old fan was getting pretty
>noisy, it seemed to move very little air so if the outside temp was
>high it ran constantly, and i had some time to kill on a pleasant
>Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis. If anybody wants the original fan
>and motor with about 12 inches of wire still attached (i read somewhere
>the fan is actually worth some money), let me know.
>
>Best,
>
>-jspeer
>'89 Westy GL "Mystery Machine"
>'00 Victory Sport Cruiser <--- recently added
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